In this study, richness and abundance of Thamnophilidae were both evaluated and correlated with environmental parameters in four forest areas of the Tibagi river basin (B1, M1, A1 and A2), placed in an environmental gradient. In each site, the vegetation was characterized and, for each specie, was analyzed: 1) the microhabitat, 2) the spatial distribution and 3) the time spend in each foraging site (described here as foraging length). Bird species number was similar among areas, although, B1 inhabited higher abundance. The vegetation of this area, showed correlations relatively lower when compared to the other three, which showed higher values among themselves. Vine tangles in all strata, dense medium and higher strata and presence of clearings were representative in B1. Dense medium stratum showed representative to five species. On the other hand, vine tangles at the higher stratum and the absence of lower dense stratum were representative for only two species. The spatial distribution, the foraging length site and the microhabitats selection varied among the species. These were important factors in ecological partitioning of the species analyzed in this study.
Atlantic forest; foraging length; microhabitat; spatial distribution
